Minnestota Business Developments

by Carol Walsh
August 2011

Northern

Enventis, a subsidiary of HickoryTech, has broken ground in Duluth on the $24 million Greater Minnesota Broadband Collaborative Project, which will bring broadband Internet access to rural communities from Duluth to the Twin Cities and from Brainerd to Fargo. The project received a $16.8 million grant from the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program, a division of the National Telecommunication and Information Administration. With a $7.2 million contribution from Eventis, the project will employ more than 150 people.

Involta plans to break ground in September on a $13.6 million data storage center at the Duluth Technology Park. The 24,000 sq. ft. data center will be built on 14 acres behind United Healthcare, leaving room for three more possible phases that could bring the total project to $50 million. JOBZ tax-free and tax-increment financing zones were created for the project. The new data center likely will employ eight people initially, and construction is expected to generate up to 100 jobs.

Financial support from Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation is helping create a projected 813 construction jobs and leverage more than $127.5 million in new community development projects across northeastern Minnesota in 2011-2012. Among the projects being constructed are new water and sanitary sewer facilities, single-family and multi-unit housing, renewable energy facilities, health care improvements, and sites for new home and business redevelopment.

The City of Deerwood was awarded $175,000 to assist Magnum Machining, Inc with an expansion that will result in the creation of 30 jobs.

Central

Craft Pattern & Mold, a prototype plastic and metal parts and production tooling company that’s been in the industry for 25 years, is relocating from Maple Plain to the Lemmerman Industrial Park in Montrose this fall.  The company will bring 24 jobs to the Wright County community. 

The City of Sauk Rapids was awarded $322,000 to assist The Coleman Company, Inc with an expansion that will result in the creation of 100 jobs.

Twin Cities Metro

Medical supply company Medline has broken ground on a $10.26 million, 300,000 sq. ft. warehouse and distribution center in Rogers. The Rogers City Council approved a $200,000 subsidy to Medline, and to keep the money, the company will have to create at least 24 jobs at the site.

The City of Bloomington has been awarded $227,500 to assist Electronic Controlled Systems, Inc. with its planned expansion which will result in the creation of 12 jobs.

Southern

The JOBZ Program had made funds available to the city of Willmar to assist Willmar Fabrication, a fabricator of agricultural implements, with a relocation project that will create five jobs with wages and benefits of at least $13 an hour.

The city of Waseca will administer a $100,000 loan to Bird's Eye Foods to upgrade equipment and add an additional packaging line.  The improvements will result in the creation of 15 jobs.

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